Securing Our Future update: Recommendations and next steps from college reorganization process announced

Following an extensive and collaborative campuswide process, the university has made progress on the transformative recommendation from Securing Our Future to consider ways to best reorganize Marquette's colleges and departmental structures. Based on faculty, staff and university leader input, Acting Provost Sarah Feldner has since put forth a set of six recommendations.

The recommendations (listed below) have been endorsed by President Ah Yun and provost-elect Dr. Debbie Tahmassebi who will oversee the work and make final decisions about any resulting proposals at the conclusion of this spring semester.

Members of the Marquette community last fall had the opportunity to examine the needs of academic structures, consider proposed reorganization models and provide feedback through an extensive series of campuswide ideation and feedback sessions hosted by Acting Provost Feldner and Dr. Paul Gasser, chair of University Academic Senate. Additional discussions were held at every UAS meeting throughout the fall 2025 semester. A summary of findings was shared at the December UAS meeting.

"The process was constructive and made it clear there are some key issues that should be addressed before a larger college reorganization is a viable option," Acting Provost Feldner said. "There are several near-term actions that emerged that can move us toward achieving our Securing Our Future goals so we can invest in our Marquette 2031 strategic plan."

Several overarching themes emerged from these opportunities, including:

• Cultural differences exist among units; a reorganization needs to consider how to effectively maintain and enhance the student, faculty, and staff experience.
• Any efforts to improve efficiencies through a large-scale reorganization must also align with our Catholic, Jesuit mission.
• The level of effort required for a large-scale transition must be weighed against both the short- and long-term benefits.
• Current financial reporting plays a role in local decision-making that can limit collaboration. This should be examined.
• Degree requirements and academic pathways were discussed, with early estimations suggesting a limited impact on double majors or similar academic plans.
• Opinions varied on the ideal size of a college, with some valuing shared alignment in larger structures and others emphasizing the sense of identity smaller colleges provide.

The feedback also generated several opportunities for deeper exploration, including:

• Potential cross-campus focus areas such as environmental studies, mental health, and computing and engineering partnerships
• Collaboration across the sciences
• Enhanced pre-medical advising
• A review of course offerings to reduce duplication
• Development of cross-unit hiring plans
• Examination of the Graduate School
• Renewed attention to the Core Curriculum and Honors program

Acting Provost Feldner put forth to the president six intermediary recommendations toward achieving Securing Our Future goals, which Tahmassebi will pursue when she begins her new role on March 1:

1. Develop and evaluate a plan for merging the Office of Research and Innovation with the Graduate School. There are opportunities to consider consolidating two senior level positions to bring important work in alignment with graduate education. Prior to 2015, these areas were combined.
2. Consider possible local level structural changes within colleges and departments. The feedback sessions revealed several viable options for collaboration that would allow the university to leverage areas of intersection, create clear pathways for students, elevate certain specialized areas of expertise and facilitate strategic resource sharing:
   • Explore and develop a model to align the departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering
   • Pursue partnership opportunities for the Department of Biological Sciences and the Opus College of Engineering to enhance research and curriculum in environmental studies and ecology
   • Consider a proposal for a School of Mental Health
3. Organize a committee to assess the feasibility of a plan to identify duplicative courses across the curriculum and find paths to share courses across departments and colleges. Desired outcomes include reduced competition across colleges and departments and fewer under-enrolled courses.
4. Under the provost's direction, ask the Academic Deans' Council to develop a hiring plan that is integrated across colleges. Currently, no systematic process exists for forecasting future faculty needs. A coordinated process will allow for better management of lines and resources and allow for cross-department course sharing.
5. Create a pre-med advising work group tasked with developing a process improvement plan. Recognizing that there are multiple paths for students to pursue medical school, faculty would like to see a mechanism for presenting all possible options to students.
6. Establish a plan to recalibrate the use and reporting of college and department financials. The primary concern raised by faculty throughout the feedback and ideation sessions centered on an over-emphasis on department-level financial reporting. How colleges and departments report their financials will need to be explored further.

Led by Tahmassebi, each recommendation will move forward under the direction of deans, department chairs and key leaders within the impacted units. UAS will remain engaged through standing committees (e.g., University Board of Undergraduate Studies, University Board of Graduate Studies, Committee on Teaching, Committee on Research) that will be tasked with addressing key academic issues and through updates at UAS meetings.